"SHEN-YAN, Barber."
I shuffled1 along behind him, and had time to note the box of studs, German shaving tackle and rolls of twist which lay untidily in the window ere Smith kicked the door open, clattered2 down three wooden steps, and pulled himself up with a jerk, seizing my arm for support.
We stood in a bare and very dirty room, which could only claim kinship with a civilized4 shaving-saloon by virtue5 of the grimy towel thrown across the back of the solitary6 chair. A Yiddish theatrical7 bill of some kind, illustrated8, adorned9 one of the walls, and another bill, in what may have been Chinese, completed the decorations. From behind a curtain heavily brocaded with filth10 a little Chinaman appeared, dressed in a loose smock, black trousers and thick-soled slippers11, and, advancing, shook his head vigorously.
"No shavee—no shavee," he chattered12, simian13 fashion, squinting14 from one to the other of us with his twinkling eyes. "Too late! Shuttee shop!"
"Don't you come none of it wi' me!" roared Smith, in a voice of amazing gruffness, and shook an artificially dirtied fist under the Chinaman's nose. "Get inside and gimme an' my mate a couple o' pipes. Smokee pipe, you yellow scum—savvy?"
My friend bent15 forward and glared into the other's eyes with a vindictiveness16 that amazed me, unfamiliar17 as I was with this form of gentle persuasion18.
"Kop 'old o' that," he said, and thrust a coin into the Chinaman's yellow paw. "Keep me waitin' an' I'll pull the dam' shop down, Charlie. You can lay to it."
"No hab got pipee—" began the other.
Smith raised his fist, and Yan capitulated.
He dived behind the dirty curtain, Smith and I following, and ran up a dark stair. The next moment I found myself in an atmosphere which was literally20 poisonous. It was all but unbreathable, being loaded with opium21 fumes22. Never before had I experienced anything like it. Every breath was an effort. A tin oil-lamp on a box in the middle of the floor dimly illuminated23 the horrible place, about the walls of which ten or twelve bunks25 were ranged and all of them occupied. Most of the occupants were lying motionless, but one or two were squatting26 in their bunks noisily sucking at the little metal pipes. These had not yet attained27 to the opium-smoker's Nirvana.
"No loom—samee tella you," said Shen-Yan, complacently28 testing Smith's shilling with his yellow, decayed teeth.
Smith walked to a corner and dropped cross-legged, on the floor, pulling me down with him.
"Two pipe quick," he said. "Plenty room. Two piecee pipe—or plenty heap trouble."
Yan performed a curious little shrug31, rather of the back than of the shoulders, and shuffled to the box which bore the smoky lamp. Holding a needle in the flame, he dipped it, when red-hot, into an old cocoa tin, and withdrew it with a bead32 of opium adhering to the end. Slowly roasting this over the lamp, he dropped it into the bowl of the metal pipe which he held ready, where it burned with a spirituous blue flame.
"Pass it over," said Smith huskily, and rose on his knees with the assumed eagerness of a slave to the drug.
It was with a sense of nausea35 greater even than that occasioned by the disgusting atmosphere of the den3 that I took the pipe and pretended to smoke. Taking my cue from my friend, I allowed my head gradually to sink lower and lower, until, within a few minutes, I sprawled36 sideways on the floor, Smith lying close beside me.
"The ship's sinkin'," droned a voice from one of the bunks. "Look at the rats."
Yan had noiselessly withdrawn37, and I experienced a curious sense of isolation38 from my fellows—from the whole of the Western world. My throat was parched39 with the fumes, my head ached. The vicious atmosphere seemed contaminating. I was as one dropped—
Somewhere East of Suez, where the best is like the worst, And there ain't no Ten Commandments and a man can raise a thirst.
Smith began to whisper softly.
"We have carried it through successfully so far," he said. "I don't know if you have observed it, but there is a stair just behind you, half concealed41 by a ragged42 curtain. We are near that, and well in the dark. I have seen nothing suspicious so far—or nothing much. But if there was anything going forward it would no doubt be delayed until we new arrivals were well doped. S-SH!"
He pressed my arm to emphasize the warning. Through my half-closed eyes I perceived a shadowy form near the curtain to which he had referred. I lay like a log, but my muscles were tensed nervously43.
The shadow materialized as the figure moved forward into the room with a curiously44 lithe45 movement.
The smoky lamp in the middle of the place afforded scant46 illumination, serving only to indicate sprawling47 shapes—here an extended hand, brown or yellow, there a sketchy48, corpse-like face; whilst from all about rose obscene sighings and murmurings in far-away voices—an uncanny, animal chorus. It was like a glimpse of the Inferno49 seen by some Chinese Dante. But so close to us stood the newcomer that I was able to make out a ghastly parchment face, with small, oblique50 eyes, and a misshapen head crowned with a coiled pigtail, surmounting51 a slight, hunched52 body. There was something unnatural53, inhuman54, about that masklike face, and something repulsive55 in the bent shape and the long, yellow hands clasped one upon the other.
Fu-Manchu, from Smith's account, in no way resembled this crouching56 apparition57 with the death's-head countenance58 and lithe movements; but an instinct of some kind told me that we were on the right scent—that this was one of the doctor's servants. How I came to that conclusion, I cannot explain; but with no doubt in my mind that this was a member of the formidable murder group, I saw the yellow man creep nearer, nearer, silently, bent and peering.
He was watching us.
Of another circumstance I became aware, and a disquieting59 circumstance. There were fewer murmurings and sighings from the surrounding bunks. The presence of the crouching figure had created a sudden semi-silence in the den, which could only mean that some of the supposed opium-smokers had merely feigned60 coma61 and the approach of coma.
Nayland Smith lay like a dead man, and trusting to the darkness, I, too, lay prone62 and still, but watched the evil face bending lower and lower, until it came within a few inches of my own. I completely closed my eyes.
Delicate fingers touched my right eyelid63. Divining what was coming, I rolled my eyes up, as the lid was adroitly64 lifted and lowered again. The man moved away.
I had saved the situation! And noting anew the hush65 about me—a hush in which I fancied many pairs of ears listened—I was glad. For just a moment I realized fully40 how, with the place watched back and front, we yet were cut off, were in the hands of Far Easterns, to some extent in the power of members of that most inscrutably mysterious race, the Chinese.
"Good," whispered Smith at my side. "I don't think I could have done it. He took me on trust after that. My God! what an awful face. Petrie, it's the hunchback of Cadby's notes. Ah, I thought so. Do you see that?"
I turned my eyes round as far as was possible. A man had scrambled66 down from one of the bunks and was following the bent figure across the room.
They passed around us quietly, the little yellow man leading, with his curious, lithe gait, and the other, an impassive Chinaman, following. The curtain was raised, and I heard footsteps receding67 on the stairs.
"Don't stir," whispered Smith.
An intense excitement was clearly upon him, and he communicated it to me. Who was the occupant of the room above?
Footsteps on the stair, and the Chinaman reappeared, recrossed the floor, and went out. The little, bent man went over to another bunk24, this time leading up the stair one who looked like a lascar.
"Did you see his right hand?" whispered Smith. "A dacoit! They come here to report and to take orders. Petrie, Dr. Fu-Manchu is up there."
"What shall we do?"—softly.
"Wait. Then we must try to rush the stairs. It would be futile68 to bring in the police first. He is sure to have some other exit. I will give the word while the little yellow devil is down here. You are nearer and will have to go first, but if the hunchback follows, I can then deal with him."
Our whispered colloquy69 was interrupted by the return of the dacoit, who recrossed the room as the Chinaman had done, and immediately took his departure. A third man, whom Smith identified as a Malay, ascended70 the mysterious stairs, descended71, and went out; and a fourth, whose nationality it was impossible to determine, followed. Then, as the softly moving usher72 crossed to a bunk on the right of the outer door—
"Up you go, Petrie," cried Smith, for further delay was dangerous and further dissimulation73 useless.
I leaped to my feet. Snatching my revolver from the pocket of the rough jacket I wore, I bounded to the stair and went blundering up in complete darkness. A chorus of brutish cries clamored from behind, with a muffled74 scream rising above them all. But Nayland Smith was close behind as I raced along a covered gangway, in a purer air, and at my heels when I crashed open a door at the end and almost fell into the room beyond.
What I saw were merely a dirty table, with some odds75 and ends upon it of which I was too excited to take note, an oil-lamp swung by a brass76 chain above, and a man sitting behind the table. But from the moment that my gaze rested upon the one who sat there, I think if the place had been an Aladdin's palace I should have had no eyes for any of its wonders.
He wore a plain yellow robe, of a hue77 almost identical with that of his smooth, hairless countenance. His hands were large, long and bony, and he held them knuckles78 upward, and rested his pointed79 chin upon their thinness. He had a great, high brow, crowned with sparse80, neutral-colored hair.
Of his face, as it looked out at me over the dirty table, I despair of writing convincingly. It was that of an archangel of evil, and it was wholly dominated by the most uncanny eyes that ever reflected a human soul, for they were narrow and long, very slightly oblique, and of a brilliant green. But their unique horror lay in a certain filminess (it made me think of the membrana nictitans in a bird) which, obscuring them as I threw wide the door, seemed to lift as I actually passed the threshold, revealing the eyes in all their brilliant iridescence81.
I know that I stopped dead, one foot within the room, for the malignant82 force of the man was something surpassing my experience. He was surprised by this sudden intrusion—yes, but no trace of fear showed upon that wonderful face, only a sort of pitying contempt. And, as I paused, he rose slowly to his feet, never removing his gaze from mine.
"IT'S FU-MANCHU!" cried Smith over my shoulder, in a voice that was almost a scream. "IT'S FU-MANCHU! Cover him! Shoot him dead if—"
The conclusion of that sentence I never heard.
Dr. Fu-Manchu reached down beside the table, and the floor slipped from under me.
One last glimpse I had of the fixed83 green eyes, and with a scream I was unable to repress I dropped, dropped, dropped, and plunged84 into icy water, which closed over my head.
Vaguely85 I had seen a spurt86 of flame, had heard another cry following my own, a booming sound (the trap), the flat note of a police whistle. But when I rose to the surface impenetrable darkness enveloped87 me; I was spitting filthy88, oily liquid from my mouth, and fighting down the black terror that had me by the throat—terror of the darkness about me, of the unknown depths beneath me, of the pit into which I was cast amid stifling89 stenches and the lapping of tidal water.
"Smith!" I cried.… "Help! Help!"
My voice seemed to beat back upon me, yet I was about to cry out again, when, mustering90 all my presence of mind and all my failing courage, I recognized that I had better employment of my energies, and began to swim straight ahead, desperately91 determined92 to face all the horrors of this place—to die hard if die I must.
I felt that, despite my resolution, I was going mad.
I touched a rotting wooden post and slimy timbers. I had reached one bound of my watery95 prison. More fire fell from above, and the scream of hysteria quivered, unuttered, in my throat.
Keeping myself afloat with increasing difficulty in my heavy garments, I threw my head back and raised my eyes.
No more drops fell, and no more drops would fall; but it was merely a question of time for the floor to collapse96. For it was beginning to emit a dull, red glow.
The room above me was in flames!
It was drops of burning oil from the lamp, finding passage through the cracks in the crazy flooring, which had fallen about me—for the death trap had reclosed, I suppose, mechanically.
My saturated97 garments were dragging me down, and now I could hear the flames hungrily eating into the ancient rottenness overhead. Shortly that cauldron would be loosed upon my head. The glow of the flames grew brighter … and showed me the half-rotten piles upholding the building, showed me the tidal mark upon the slime-coated walls—showed me that there was no escape!
By some subterranean98 duct the foul99 place was fed from the Thames. By that duct, with the outgoing tide, my body would pass, in the wake of Mason, Cadby, and many another victim!
Rusty100 iron rungs were affixed101 to one of the walls communicating with a trap—but the bottom three were missing!
Brighter and brighter grew the awesome102 light the light of what should be my funeral pyre—reddening the oily water and adding a new dread103 to the whispering, clammy horror of the pit. But something it showed me … a projecting beam a few feet above the water … and directly below the iron ladder!
"Merciful Heaven!" I breathed. "Have I the strength?"
A desire for laughter claimed me with sudden, all but irresistible104 force. I knew what it portended105 and fought it down—grimly, sternly.
My garments weighed upon me like a suit of mail; with my chest aching dully, my veins106 throbbing107 to bursting, I forced tired muscles to work, and, every stroke an agony, approached the beam. Nearer I swam … nearer. Its shadow fell black upon the water, which now had all the seeming of a pool of blood. Confused sounds—a remote uproar—came to my ears. I was nearly spent … I was in the shadow of the beam! If I could throw up one arm…
"Petrie! Petrie!" (That voice must be Smith's!) "Don't touch the beam! For God's sake DON'T TOUCH THE BEAM! Keep afloat another few seconds and I can get to you!"
Another few seconds! Was that possible?
I managed to turn, to raise my throbbing head; and I saw the strangest sight which that night yet had offered.
Nayland Smith stood upon the lowest iron rung … supported by the hideous109, crook-backed Chinaman, who stood upon the rung above!
"I can't reach him!"
It was as Smith hissed the words despairingly that I looked up—and saw the Chinaman snatch at his coiled pigtail and pull it off! With it came the wig110 to which it was attached; and the ghastly yellow mask, deprived of its fastenings, fell from position! "Here! Here! Be quick! Oh! be quick! You can lower this to him! Be quick! Be quick!"
A cloud of hair came falling about the slim shoulders as the speaker bent to pass this strange lifeline to Smith; and I think it was my wonder at knowing her for the girl whom that day I had surprised in Cadby's rooms which saved my life.
For I not only kept afloat, but kept my gaze upturned to that beautiful, flushed face, and my eyes fixed upon hers—which were wild with fear … for me!
Smith, by some contortion111, got the false queue into my grasp, and I, with the strength of desperation, by that means seized hold upon the lowest rung. With my friend's arm round me I realized that exhaustion112 was even nearer than I had supposed. My last distinct memory is of the bursting of the floor above and the big burning joist hissing113 into the pool beneath us. Its fiery passage, striated114 with light, disclosed two sword blades, riveted115, edges up along the top of the beam which I had striven to reach.
How Smith got me through the trap I do not know—nor how we made our way through the smoke and flames of the narrow passage it opened upon. My next recollection is of sitting up, with my friend's arm supporting me and Inspector117 Ryman holding a glass to my lips.
A bright glare dazzled my eyes. A crowd surged about us, and a clangor and shouting drew momentarily nearer.
"It's the engines coming," explained Smith, seeing my bewilderment. "Shen-Yan's is in flames. It was your shot, as you fell through the trap, broke the oil-lamp."
"Is everybody out?"
"So far as we know."
"Fu-Manchu?"
"No one has seen him. There was some door at the back—"
"Do you think he may—"
"No," he said tensely. "Not until I see him lying dead before me shall I believe it."
Then memory resumed its sway. I struggled to my feet.
"Smith, where is she?" I cried. "Where is she?"
"I don't know," he answered.
"She's given us the slip, Doctor," said Inspector Weymouth, as a fire-engine came swinging round the corner of the narrow lane. "So has Mr. Singapore Charlie—and, I'm afraid, somebody else. We've got six or eight all-sorts, some awake and some asleep, but I suppose we shall have to let 'em go again. Mr. Smith tells me that the girl was disguised as a Chinaman. I expect that's why she managed to slip away."
I recalled how I had been dragged from the pit by the false queue, how the strange discovery which had brought death to poor Cadby had brought life to me, and I seemed to remember, too, that Smith had dropped it as he threw his arm about me on the ladder. Her mask the girl might have retained, but her wig, I felt certain, had been dropped into the water.
It was later that night, when the brigade still were playing upon the blackened shell of what had been Shen-Yan's opium-shop, and Smith and I were speeding away in a cab from the scene of God knows how many crimes, that I had an idea.
"Smith," I said, "did you bring the pigtail with you that was found on Cadby?"
"Yes. I had hoped to meet the owner."
"Have you got it now?"
"No. I met the owner."
I thrust my hands deep into the pockets of the big pea-jacket lent to me by Inspector Ryman, leaning back in my corner.
"We shall never really excel at this business," continued Nayland Smith. "We are far too sentimental119. I knew what it meant to us, Petrie, what it meant to the world, but I hadn't the heart. I owed her your life—I had to square the account."
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1
shuffled
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| v.洗（纸牌）( shuffle的过去式和过去分词 )；拖着脚步走；粗心地做；摆脱尘世的烦恼 | |
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clattered
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| 发出咔哒声（clatter的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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den
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| n.兽穴；秘密地方；安静的小房间，私室 | |
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civilized
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| a.有教养的，文雅的 | |
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virtue
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| n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力 | |
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solitary
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| adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士 | |
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7
theatrical
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| adj.剧场的，演戏的；做戏似的，做作的 | |
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illustrated
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| adj. 有插图的，列举的 动词illustrate的过去式和过去分词 | |
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adorned
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| [计]被修饰的 | |
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filth
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| n.肮脏，污物，污秽；淫猥 | |
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slippers
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| n. 拖鞋 | |
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chattered
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| （人）喋喋不休( chatter的过去式 )； 唠叨； （牙齿）打战； （机器）震颤 | |
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13
simian
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| adj.似猿猴的；n.类人猿，猴 | |
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squinting
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| 斜视( squint的现在分词 )； 眯着眼睛； 瞟； 从小孔或缝隙里看 | |
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15
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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vindictiveness
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| 恶毒；怀恨在心 | |
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unfamiliar
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| adj.陌生的，不熟悉的 | |
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persuasion
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| n.劝说；说服；持有某种信仰的宗派 | |
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loom
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| n.织布机，织机；v.隐现，(危险、忧虑等)迫近 | |
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literally
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| adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实 | |
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opium
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| n.鸦片；adj.鸦片的 | |
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fumes
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| n.(强烈而刺激的)气味，气体 | |
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illuminated
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| adj.被照明的；受启迪的 | |
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bunk
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| n.(车、船等倚壁而设的)铺位；废话 | |
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bunks
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| n.（车、船等倚壁而设的）铺位( bunk的名词复数 )；空话，废话v.（车、船等倚壁而设的）铺位( bunk的第三人称单数 )；空话，废话 | |
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26
squatting
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| v.像动物一样蹲下( squat的现在分词 )；非法擅自占用（土地或房屋）；为获得其所有权；而占用某片公共用地。 | |
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attained
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| （通常经过努力）实现( attain的过去式和过去分词 )； 达到； 获得； 达到（某年龄、水平、状况） | |
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complacently
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| adv. 满足地, 自满地, 沾沾自喜地 | |
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dreary
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| adj.令人沮丧的，沉闷的，单调乏味的 | |
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palaver
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| adj.壮丽堂皇的；n.废话，空话 | |
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31
shrug
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| v.耸肩(表示怀疑、冷漠、不知等) | |
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bead
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| n.念珠；(pl.)珠子项链；水珠 | |
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promptly
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| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
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inhale
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| v.吸入(气体等)，吸(烟) | |
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nausea
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| n.作呕，恶心；极端的憎恶(或厌恶) | |
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sprawled
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| v.伸开四肢坐[躺]( sprawl的过去式和过去分词)；蔓延；杂乱无序地拓展；四肢伸展坐着（或躺着） | |
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37
withdrawn
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| vt.收回；使退出；vi.撤退，退出 | |
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38
isolation
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| n.隔离，孤立，分解，分离 | |
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39
parched
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| adj.焦干的；极渴的；v.（使）焦干 | |
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40
fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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41
concealed
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| a.隐藏的，隐蔽的 | |
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42
ragged
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| adj.衣衫褴褛的，粗糙的，刺耳的 | |
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43
nervously
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| adv.神情激动地，不安地 | |
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44
curiously
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| adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地 | |
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45
lithe
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| adj.(指人、身体)柔软的，易弯的 | |
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46
scant
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| adj.不充分的，不足的；v.减缩，限制，忽略 | |
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47
sprawling
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| adj.蔓生的，不规则地伸展的v.伸开四肢坐[躺]( sprawl的现在分词 )；蔓延；杂乱无序地拓展；四肢伸展坐着（或躺着） | |
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48
sketchy
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| adj.写生的，写生风格的，概略的 | |
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49
inferno
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| n.火海；地狱般的场所 | |
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50
oblique
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| adj.斜的，倾斜的，无诚意的，不坦率的 | |
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51
surmounting
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| 战胜( surmount的现在分词 )； 克服（困难）； 居于…之上； 在…顶上 | |
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52
hunched
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| （常指因寒冷、生病或愁苦）耸肩弓身的，伏首前倾的 | |
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53
unnatural
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| adj.不自然的；反常的 | |
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54
inhuman
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| adj.残忍的，不人道的，无人性的 | |
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55
repulsive
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| adj.排斥的，使人反感的 | |
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56
crouching
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| v.屈膝，蹲伏( crouch的现在分词 ) | |
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57
apparition
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| n.幽灵，神奇的现象 | |
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58
countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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disquieting
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| adj.令人不安的，令人不平静的v.使不安，使忧虑，使烦恼( disquiet的现在分词 ) | |
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60
feigned
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| a.假装的，不真诚的 | |
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61
coma
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| n.昏迷，昏迷状态 | |
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62
prone
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| adj.(to)易于…的，很可能…的；俯卧的 | |
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63
eyelid
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| n.眼睑，眼皮 | |
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64
adroitly
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| adv.熟练地，敏捷地 | |
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65
hush
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| int.嘘，别出声；n.沉默，静寂；v.使安静 | |
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66
scrambled
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| v.快速爬行( scramble的过去式和过去分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞 | |
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67
receding
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| v.逐渐远离( recede的现在分词 )；向后倾斜；自原处后退或避开别人的注视；尤指问题 | |
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68
futile
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| adj.无效的，无用的，无希望的 | |
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69
colloquy
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| n.谈话，自由讨论 | |
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ascended
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| v.上升，攀登( ascend的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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71
descended
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| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
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72
usher
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| n.带位员，招待员；vt.引导，护送；vi.做招待，担任引座员 | |
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73
dissimulation
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| n.掩饰，虚伪，装糊涂 | |
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74
muffled
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| adj.（声音）被隔的；听不太清的；（衣服）裹严的；蒙住的v.压抑，捂住( muffle的过去式和过去分词 )；用厚厚的衣帽包着（自己） | |
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75
odds
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| n.让步，机率，可能性，比率；胜败优劣之别 | |
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brass
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| n.黄铜；黄铜器，铜管乐器 | |
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hue
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| n.色度；色调；样子 | |
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78
knuckles
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| n.（指人）指关节( knuckle的名词复数 )；（指动物）膝关节，踝v.（指人）指关节( knuckle的第三人称单数 )；（指动物）膝关节，踝 | |
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pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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sparse
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| adj.稀疏的，稀稀落落的，薄的 | |
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81
iridescence
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| n.彩虹色；放光彩；晕色；晕彩 | |
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malignant
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| adj.恶性的，致命的；恶意的，恶毒的 | |
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fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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84
plunged
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| v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
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85
vaguely
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| adv.含糊地，暖昧地 | |
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86
spurt
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| v.喷出；突然进发；突然兴隆 | |
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87
enveloped
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| v.包围，笼罩，包住( envelop的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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88
filthy
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| adj.卑劣的；恶劣的，肮脏的 | |
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89
stifling
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| a.令人窒息的 | |
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90
mustering
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| v.集合，召集，集结（尤指部队）( muster的现在分词 )；（自他人处）搜集某事物；聚集；激发 | |
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desperately
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| adv.极度渴望地，绝望地，孤注一掷地 | |
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determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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93
hissed
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| 发嘶嘶声( hiss的过去式和过去分词 )； 发嘘声表示反对 | |
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fiery
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| adj.燃烧着的，火红的；暴躁的；激烈的 | |
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watery
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| adj.有水的，水汪汪的；湿的，湿润的 | |
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96
collapse
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| vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷 | |
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97
saturated
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| a.饱和的，充满的 | |
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98
subterranean
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| adj.地下的，地表下的 | |
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99
foul
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| adj.污秽的；邪恶的；v.弄脏；妨害；犯规；n.犯规 | |
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100
rusty
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| adj.生锈的；锈色的；荒废了的 | |
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101
affixed
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| adj.[医]附着的，附着的v.附加( affix的过去式和过去分词 )；粘贴；加以；盖（印章） | |
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102
awesome
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| adj.令人惊叹的，难得吓人的，很好的 | |
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103
dread
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| vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧 | |
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104
irresistible
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| adj.非常诱人的，无法拒绝的，无法抗拒的 | |
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105
portended
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| v.预示( portend的过去式和过去分词 )；预兆；给…以警告；预告 | |
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106
veins
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| n.纹理；矿脉( vein的名词复数 )；静脉；叶脉；纹理 | |
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107
throbbing
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| a. 跳动的,悸动的 | |
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108
shrill
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| adj.尖声的；刺耳的；v尖叫 | |
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109
hideous
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| adj.丑陋的，可憎的，可怕的，恐怖的 | |
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110
wig
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| n.假发 | |
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111
contortion
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| n.扭弯，扭歪，曲解 | |
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112
exhaustion
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| n.耗尽枯竭，疲惫，筋疲力尽，竭尽，详尽无遗的论述 | |
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113
hissing
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| n. 发嘶嘶声, 蔑视 动词hiss的现在分词形式 | |
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114
striated
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| adj.有纵线，条纹的 | |
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115
riveted
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| 铆接( rivet的过去式和过去分词 )； 把…固定住； 吸引； 引起某人的注意 | |
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116
severed
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| v.切断，断绝( sever的过去式和过去分词 )；断，裂 | |
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117
inspector
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| n.检查员，监察员，视察员 | |
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118
shrugged
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| vt.耸肩（shrug的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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119
sentimental
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| adj.多愁善感的，感伤的 | |
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